Another cyclist! Yep we had a couple who are touring through the area stop by and stay last night. They are 21 and 23. A young couple, they are from Arlington Va. and started in Wilmington. From his mom's house.
They drove down and started there, they are heading to Memphis and then to New Orleans. From there they plan to head back to Wilmington get the car and head home. She is unemployed so it wasn't that big of deal for her and he works at a bike shop. He hadn't taken any time off in awhile so they let him have the time.
Seemed like a really nice couple, they made it to Wadesboro yesterday about 6pm and I went and picked them up. From my house in Monroe that's only about a 30 minute drive. We came home and had a nice dinner drank a few beers and went to bed.
This morning I gave them a ride down to Fort Mill and sent them on their way! That saved them the nightmare of trying to get through Charlotte and gave them a good head start for the day. We have been members of the website Warmshowers for about a year now and this makes the second time someone has made it through our area.
I have been contacted a few other times that just didn't workout, one time we where out of town and one time I didn't really seem to hit it off with the person who wanted to stop. I made up an excuse and they made other arrangements. It's totally up to you who you allow to stop by so it's pretty cool!
So after having 2 visitors I have a few observations I want to share.
First, you really don't need a high tech bike and equipment to do a bike tour. Pete (our first guess) had a bike he bought of Craigslist and Ortlieb panniers (bags).
John and Stephanie, they were riding old bikes, they even had the shift levers on the stem. Guess what, John bought his bike off Craigslist!
The one common thing these cyclist had has been the Ortlieb panniers. Both of them commented on how nice they are and how you don't want your stuff to get wet! John, even working at a bike shop said he wanted to have more money on the trip, that was a lot more important than getting a new bike at cost. So he plowed through Craigslist until he found what he wanted and then got it!
So if you want to tour spend your money on the important stuff and you will be a lot happier. Skip the fancy high end bike and get the nice bags and a light weight tent.
Second, be very flexible. Both times our visitors seem to be totally relaxed and flowing with the changes. No worries, they haven't been stressing over the route, just dealing with the changes. It seems as though they move at a different pace than "the rest of us" do!
Bikes will do that.......
One last observation, both of them made the comment that they seem to keep a 14mph pace....... Sounds like fun to me.........
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